Unsolved
2 Posts
0
2192
m17, fans constantly on after BIOS 1.5.2?
I just purchased a new m17. As expected, the Dell support assistant went through several rounds of updates. Everything was going reasonably well and fans were quiet during idle, browsing, etc.
At some point, Alienware command center or support assist or whatever told me there was a critical bios update, so installed 1.5.2. Since installing, the fans just stay at approximately 50% constantly. They don't respond to changing thermal profiles or editing the fan settings on existing profiles.
I did a system restore to a few hours before the problem began in case it was a driver, but that didn't help (though I did lose several hours of software setup). At this point, I have to assume it's a bios issue.
Temps on both CPU and GPU are low- mostly below 50 C, as they were before this started. So there's no reason the fans should be running like this.
Given that I've owned this for less than 24 hours and I'm already spending hours troubleshooting, I'm probably going to just return it and try something other than alienware, which is disappointing. Is there an obvious solution?
Thanks,
ultradianguy
2 Posts
1
April 12th, 2019 12:00
I'm returning this laptop tomorrow.
Picked up a MSI GS75 for slightly less money.
Superior in most ways except build quality, and that is acceptable if not stellar. Not quite as easy to upgrade and has only M2 slots - no 2.5". Touchpad in weird location too, but it's workable. Prefer the config of the m17 but no way I'm dealing with these issues on a brand new machine.
(To be fair though, I'm not a gamer - I'm looking for a software development platform and light video editing).
Set up experience so far has been painless. Guy at store told me they've had returns on Alienware laptops with Bios issues.
If it's helpful to anyone:
m17
Better port options and locations
Better build quality
Touchpad in normal location
Easy upgrade access and both m2 and 2.5" slots
Really great keyboard
GS7
Really good ports (but no mdp)
3 M2 slots, no 2.5"
Not all components easy to access for upgrade
More than double the battery life of m17 (about 5 hours when web surfing without turning down brightness so much that I'm squinting)
Lighter, smaller, no sharp edges
Keyboard also excellent, but I slightly prefer m17
Much more comfortable on an actual lap
Keyboard has per key lighting (I don't care a whit about flashy lighting but I like being able to highlight locations of different kinds of keys. I do not understand the value of zone lighting when the zones don't correspond to anything that means anything - unless it's a game thing. If the zones were - letters, function keys, numeric keypad, etc - now that would be helpful.)
GS75 worked beautifully out of box. No services that are constantly updating things and making a mess.
Overall - m17 seems like it could be a great machine. When I found it, it ticked almost every requirement for me. But at this stage of my life, I am not going to put up with faulty bios updates that screw up the machine. I simply don't have the kind of time to deal with this nonsense.
phunqe
5 Posts
0
May 1st, 2019 02:00
Hi,
Now that 1.6.2 is out, has this issue been addressed? I am still on 1.4.1 since I can't have a laptop where I am forced to have the fans running even on idle.
Thank you.
JeffLash
3 Posts
0
September 22nd, 2020 12:00